List of Famous people who died at 59

Frank Tashlin, also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated shorts for Warner Bros., as well as his work as a director of live-action comedy movies.

Bernd Baselt was a German musicologist noted for his works on the Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. He was born in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and died in Hanover.

Etheridge Knight was an African-American poet who made his name in 1968 with his debut volume, Poems from Prison. The book recalls in verse his eight-year-long sentence after his arrest for robbery in 1960. By the time he left prison, Knight had prepared a second volume featuring his own writings and works of his fellow inmates. This second book, first published in Italy under the title Voce negre dal carcere, appeared in English in 1970 as Black Voices from Prison. These works established Knight as one of the major poets of the Black Arts Movement, which flourished from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. With roots in the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, and the Black Power Movement, Etheridge Knight and other American artists within the movement sought to create politically engaged work that explored the African-American cultural and historical experience.

Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, Your Song. Their collaboration led to seven US No. 1 albums, and established John as the most successful singles artist of the '70s. Dudgeon also produced Chris Rea's first hit, the US chart topping Fool , and David Bowie's Space Oddity, and steered many other artists to chart success, including Joan Armatrading and Elkie Brooks. The Guinness Book of Records cites Dudgeon as being the first person to use sampling in music production. He was a founding member of the Music Producers Guild.

Tamás Kertész was a Hungarian football player who played for Ferencváros. He played 2 games for the Hungarian national team. After his playing career he was coach of the Ghana national football team. His granddaughter is the eminent tennis player Johanna Konta.

Edward (Ward) Van Dijck was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer during the 1940s and 1950s.

Eric Rogers was an English composer, conductor and arranger, best known for composing the scores for twenty-two Carry On films.